Toolkit

30 documents, and you have a design package

Every deliverable in the course, in the order you produce them. Work through the curriculum on your own block and these stack up into a professional landscape documentation set for your property — the same thing you would have paid a designer for, except you understand every page of it.

Printable templates for each are being added as the corresponding lessons are written.

Documents you produce, in order

01
Phase 01 — The trade and the process
Your project charter
In one paragraph: what does "finished" look like for your garden? Then three numbers — the budget you are willing to spend, the months you are willing to wait, and the hours per week you can actually work on it. Be honest; you will be measured against this in Phase 11.
02
Phase 02 — First contact and the brief
Your design brief
Write the full brief for your property: who uses the garden and how; the must-haves; the explicit exclusions; the budget and staging; the maintenance level you will realistically sustain; the style direction; and the three things that would make you call the project a failure.
03
Phase 03 — Site analysis
Measured base plan
Produce a scaled base plan of your property showing boundaries, house footprint, doors and windows, paths, existing structures, downpipes, taps, meter, and every tree over two metres. Note the scale and the date.
04
Phase 03 — Site analysis
Levels survey
Set a permanent datum point on your block and record spot levels on a grid across the site, plus at every door threshold, boundary corner, and existing drain. Mark them on your base plan.
05
Phase 03 — Site analysis
Soil report
Record results for each test area on your block: soil type, pH, water repellency (the water-drop test), depth to any hard layer, and drainage rate. Note which areas will need the most amendment.
06
Phase 03 — Site analysis
Sun and wind analysis
Overlay onto your base plan: summer and winter sun paths, the areas in shade at 9am / noon / 3pm, the hottest surfaces on site, the prevailing summer sea breeze direction, and the winter storm direction.
07
Phase 03 — Site analysis
Services plan
Lodge a Before You Dig Australia enquiry for your address, then mark every located service on your base plan: sewer line and access chambers, water main and meter, power (overhead and underground), gas, comms, and every existing retic line and valve you can find.
08
Phase 03 — Site analysis
Existing garden audit
List every existing element on your block — each significant plant, paved area, structure, edge, and the retic system. For each: condition, remaining life, cost to keep versus cost to replace, and a verdict of KEEP, RELOCATE, REPLACE or REMOVE, with the reason.
09
Phase 03 — Site analysis
Constraints and opportunities plan
Produce a single annotated overlay on your base plan marking every constraint (services, easements, setbacks, shade, root zones, poor drainage, hot walls, overlooking, access limits) and every opportunity (good views, sheltered corners, existing mature planting, level areas, sun in winter).
10
Phase 04 — Rules, permits and approvals
Your water rules
Record your rostered watering days (from your house number), your legal watering windows, the winter ban dates, your water source (scheme, bore, or both), and any new-garden exemption you may be entitled to. This governs your entire irrigation design.
11
Phase 05 — Concept design
Zoning diagram
Produce at least three different bubble diagrams for your block, allocating every square metre to a function drawn from your brief. Then pick one and say why it beat the others.
12
Phase 05 — Concept design
Material palette
Assemble a mood board and a written material palette: paving, walling, decking, edging, mulch, screening and furniture. For each, note the material, an approximate Perth rate, how it weathers here, and why it belongs with the others.
13
Phase 05 — Concept design
Hydrozone plan
Divide your garden into hydrozones — typically high (lawn, vegetables), medium (feature and exotic planting), low (established natives and waterwise planting) and none (dry, unirrigated). Draw the boundaries and estimate the area of each.
14
Phase 05 — Concept design
Concept plan
Produce a scaled concept plan of your property showing all zones, surfaces, structures, planting masses, levels changes and circulation, with a title block, scale, north point and date. It should answer the brief and respect the constraints plan.
15
Phase 06 — Detailed design and documentation
Levels and grading plan
Mark the finished level of every surface, the fall direction and gradient of each, all step locations and riser heights, and calculate your cut-and-fill volumes. Confirm every surface drains somewhere legal.
16
Phase 06 — Detailed design and documentation
Drainage plan
Calculate the required soakwell volume for all new impervious area, mark soakwell positions with their distances from buildings and boundaries, show all connecting pipework with falls, and mark subsoil drains and their outlets.
17
Phase 06 — Detailed design and documentation
Planting plan and schedule
Draw every plant at its mature spread, and produce a schedule listing botanical name, common name, quantity, pot size, spacing, mature height and width, hydrozone, and sun requirement. Total the plant cost.
18
Phase 06 — Detailed design and documentation
Specification and schedule of works
Write the specification for every element (material, standard, method, finish) and the schedule of works listing each task in build order with its dependencies, durations, and who does it — you or a subcontractor.
19
Phase 07 — Costing, quoting and contract
Quantity take-off
Produce a full take-off from your drawings: m² of each surface, m³ of excavation, fill, sub-base, sand and soil, linear metres of edging, pipe and cable, and counts of every plant, fitting and unit — each with its wastage allowance.
20
Phase 07 — Costing, quoting and contract
Project cost plan
Build a full cost plan: materials, plant hire, subcontractors, disposal, your own labour hours, and a contingency percentage. Compare the total against the budget you committed to in Phase 1 and state how you will close any gap.
21
Phase 07 — Costing, quoting and contract
Staging plan
Break your project into stages with a budget and target season for each. Ensure services and drainage precede surfaces, irrigation precedes soil and planting, and each stage leaves the garden in a usable state.
22
Phase 08 — Build
Available water measurement
Measure and record your static pressure, your flow rate at the tap (bucket test), your service and meter size, and your working pressure with the flow running. If you have a bore, record its pump specification, output and any licensing.
23
Phase 08 — Build
Irrigation as-built and audit
Record the as-built layout — mainline route, valve positions, station numbers and what each covers — and the results of your commissioning audit: pressure at the furthest head on each station, catch-cup uniformity, and final run times.
24
Phase 09 — Handover and records
Defect list
Walk the finished project and list every defect, unfinished item and thing that is not quite right, with a fix and a date. Include the ones you are tempted to pretend you cannot see.
25
Phase 09 — Handover and records
As-built drawings
Mark up your documentation with what was actually built: real dimensions, actual irrigation and cable routes, valve and junction positions, soakwell locations and depths, and any substituted material or plant.
26
Phase 09 — Handover and records
Maintenance manual
Write the manual for your garden: seasonal task calendar, irrigation programmes for each season, plant-by-plant care notes, fertiliser programme, pruning times, and the establishment schedule for the first twelve weeks.
27
Phase 10 — Maintenance and establishment
Your seasonal calendar
Build a maintenance calendar for your garden across the six seasons: what you water, feed, prune, plant, mulch, check and repair in each. Note the fixed dates that constrain you, including the winter sprinkler ban.
28
Phase 10 — Maintenance and establishment
Retic audit record
Run a full station-by-station audit: every head checked for arc, radius, blockage and damage; pressure checked; catch-cup uniformity re-tested on the important stations; run times adjusted for the season. Record what you found and fixed.
29
Phase 11 — Value and review
Project review
Score the finished garden against every point of your original brief. Record the final cost against the budget, the actual duration against the estimate, what you would do differently, and the three things you got genuinely right.
30
Phase 11 — Value and review
Project portfolio
Assemble every workbook entry, drawing and photograph into a single project document. Write a one-page summary at the front: the brief, the approach, the result, the cost, and what you learnt.